University of Virginia rising senior Thomas O’Neil first heard that his school was offering a “Game of Thrones” course this past spring. “I immediately signed up,” he told Speakeasy in an interview. “I don’t even think it was a two-second delay between me finding it and going online and registering for the class.”

The 24-student class ran for four weeks this summer, covering George R.R. Martin’s first book in “A Song of Ice and Fire” as well as three seasons of the HBO television show. Professor Lisa Woolfork, who has taught at the university for 14 years, said she first came up with the idea last summer.

“These books have been out since the 1990s, and it wasn’t until HBO was able to bring it into the mainstream that we get to bridge the narrative connections of the story to what the series itself is doing,” she told Speakeasy. “I feel like fan culture is a vibrant and important part of the ‘Game of Thrones.’”

Linsey Snead, a fifth-year student pursuing her master’s degree, wasn’t part of that fan culture prior to enrolling in the class. She hadn’t read the books or watched the show, nor had she any idea what the Red Wedding was.

“For four weeks, I lived and breathed the ‘Game of Thrones,’ which was really awesome,” she said. Since the class ended, Snead finished watching the rest of the show, and picked up books two and three. “As far as English classes that are actually looking at the literature, it was one of the most engaging,” she said of the class. “You wanted to speak. You wanted to get your point across, and you wanted to listen to what everyone else had to say.”

Courtesy of Sanjay Suchak/University of Virginia

The Course

Woolfork required that every student read “A Game of Thrones”—which is more than 800 pages long—prior to the start of the course (view an excerpt from the syllabus). For each episode, students filled out detailed charts documenting their observations on elements like character and plot development (view one student’s chart).

Woolfork also had students lead most of the class discussions, which often involved the popular R+L=J theory. For a final project, the class divided into five groups, each with a designated “head of house,” chosen for his or her level of book and show expertise.

Groups focused on topics like fan culture and the nature of spoilers. “My group looked at supplementary things such as graphic novels—similar to what [J.R.R.] Tolkien did to create a bigger universe for his fans,” said Snead. “So we looked at that and how that helped validate the universe of the ‘Game of Thrones.’”

O’Neil was the leader of his group, which examined the differences between the visual interpretations of Martin’s work and how the author had originally envisioned it. HBO’s depiction of the Iron Throne, for example, is one big deviation from the text; Martin has described it as “not right,” even writing on his blog: “It’s not the Iron Throne I want my readers to see.”

The group also looked at some of the new lines added to the show, like Syrio Forel’s catchy remark about the god of Death: “There is only one thing we say to Death: ‘Not today.’”

“That line appears absolutely nowhere in Martin’s work, even though it’s become such an iconic line throughout the series,” said O’Neil. “That’s just become such a big thing in the fandom light. You go to places like Etsy and search ‘god of death, Game of Thrones,’ and get like 40 hits on jewelry that say ‘Not Today.’”

The class also discussed the beautification of characters. At the end of the first book, Daenerys Targaryen emerges from the fire with her dragons, but without clothing or hair. In the show, she still has all of her hair. “Is that about female desirability?” asked Woolfork. “Does it make her less attractive to the traditional male viewer? Why make these choices?”

Professor Lisa Woolfork taught a summer ‘Game of Thrones’ course at the University of Virginia.

Courtesy of Sanjay Suchak/University of Virginia

Not an ‘Easy A’

Woolfork and her students counter the notion that the class was easy, despite some recent media attention. “It was a lot of work. It was a lot of debate, a lot of conversation, a lot of disagreement,” said the professor. “This is the point of what we can do when we apply the skills of literary analysis to both a literary and televisual adaptation.”

“I can understand how people could see that, but it’s actually frustrating because a lot of my friends are saying, ‘Oh wow, easy class,’” said Snead. “I had to put in a lot of work and the same analytical work that I would if I were reading the text, and in some ways it was harder because we don’t normally watch TV shows like that. We just watch them for entertainment or something to do.”

O’Neil, who takes few English courses because he’s majoring in kinesiology, said the class was challenging. “With ‘’Game of Thrones,’ it gave me an outlet that really allowed me to understand how to read more with a literary mindset and less just for enjoyment, since I’ve read the books several times.”

On the success of the course, Woolfork is thinking about offering it in other iterations, perhaps more concise versions. “I’m also considering offering it as a regular spring semester course,” she said.

When O’Neil learned of the possibility, he said, “I hope so; I’ll probably take one of those classes as long as we’re not doing book one again.” He paused and laughed, adding: “I’ll probably audit the class if we’re doing book one again.”

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.